78 Hospice
1
The year was 1954,
With Dad and the family,
We all loaded up in our Sunday clothes,
And we were off to Tehachapi.
2
Mom said Aunt Lillian was real sick,
And she wanted to see us kids,
I was excited because they had orange trees there,
And snails and the yard was big.
3
When we got to Aunt Lil’s house,
There were cars up and down the street,
My grandparents and Aunts and Uncles,
And some stranger I’d yet to meet.
4
Aunt Lil was propped up in a big silvery bed,
With oxygen tubes in her nose,
She sat up to hug us kids,
Shedding a tear as she slowly rose.
5
There must have been twenty grownups there,
Strange to see them smile and such,
Even Aunt Lil tried to laugh a little,
But when she did it hurt too much.
6
Dad took me outside by the orange trees,
He said I was old enough to know,
That Aunt Lil would soon be leaving us,
Then I wondered why she would go.
7
Dad told me Aunt Lil was dying,
And that it wouldn’t be to long,
I thought dying was like in the TV cowboy shows,
But I found out that I was wrong.